Coastal residents in Louisiana moved to higher ground ahead of a tropical storm that has triggered emergency declarations in a four-state region and a recall of federal emergency workers furloughed in an ongoing partial government shutdown.

At last report, the slowly weakening storm, named Karen, was located 375 kilometers south and west of the mouth of the Mississippi River with 85 kilometer-an-hour winds. Forecasters issued warnings Friday for as much as 25 centimeters of rain when the storm makes landfall west of New Orleans late Saturday.

Far to the north, an autumn blizzard roared into parts of Wyoming, Nebraska and South Dakota, leaving behind more than 80 centimeters of snow and bringing with it wind gusts of 110 kilometers an hour.

The eastbound weather system, blamed for at least three deaths in Nebraska, later spawned tornadoes eastward into Iowa. There were no immediate reports of tornado damage.